City may add more land to redevelopment areas

Vista may double the size of its redevelopment areas – land designated as blighted because of deteriorating infrastructure, city code violations or crime – to encompass nearly 40 percent of the city.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a preliminary boundary change. A public hearing on a final plan for the redevelopment area is scheduled before the City Council sometime in June.

In the meantime, the city will hold town-hall meetings in January and May to listen to residents' opinions on the proposed boundary change and what it might mean for them.

“There's a lot of opportunities in Vista for redevelopment,” said Jeff Zinner, Vista's redevelopment and housing manager. “In order for us to accomplish our redevelopment goals, this is something that we need to undertake.”

Vista's median household income of $63,162 is the second-lowest among North County cities, according to the San Diego Association of Governments, and finding the money to fix streets and other infrastructure can be a challenge.

Cities declare redevelopment areas as a way to raise funds to fix blight, using what is known as “tax increment” to pay for projects. The increment is the additional property tax collected in a redevelopment area over time.

“It's kind of a win-win,” Zinner said. “If we do redevelopment, we actually create more revenue to do more redevelopment.”

Some of the areas included in the proposed new boundaries are Vista's oldest sections – including Townsite, a predominantly Latino neighborhood – with deteriorating roads, patchwork sidewalks, no streetlights and unsightly overhead power lines.

In some cases, new developments stand next to older commercial strips or vacant lots that would be within the new boundaries.

Twenty years ago, Vista established its redevelopment areas, sweeping about 19 percent of the city, or 2,100 acres, into the boundaries. Now, projects such as Vista Village and the Vista Business Park stand in some of those places. The new boundaries would add an additional 18 percent, or 1,900 acres, of the city.

With the change, Vista could use redevelopment funds to install sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and streetlights in older residential neighborhoods and upgrade commercial corridors that have been slow to develop, Zinner said.

“In some areas, the boundaries were too narrow or too shallow to do larger-scale, feasible development,” Zinner said. “Expanding the project area gives us an opportunity to enhance our redevelopment efforts.”

At Tuesday's meeting, Planning Commissioner Nick Ashcraft said he was surprised to see so many residential areas included in the proposal. Commission Chairman John Aguilera asked whether more areas could be added.

As the plan develops and heads to the council in June, the city plans to have a “project area committee,” consisting of possibly nine community members, to serve as an advisory group. The council is expected to consider that proposal next week.

Among its responsibilities, the committee would assess environmental studies of the redevelopment area, and advise the council on issues such as whether eminent domain should be used.